Oil soars as sanctions on Russia mount

Oil prices jumped on Monday as Western allies imposed more sanctions on Russia and blocked some Russian banks from a global payments system, which could cause severe disruption to its oil exports.

Brent crude rose $4.16, or 4.3%, to $102.09, at 0915 after hitting a high of $105.07 a barrel in early trade.

The Brent contract, for April delivery, expires on Monday. The most active contract, for May delivery, was up $4.16 at $98.28.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was up $4.19, or 4.6%, at $95.78 a barrel after hitting $99.10 in early trade.

Russian crude oil grades were already hammered in physical markets. Russia accounts for about 10% of global oil supply.

Ahead of the meeting, OPEC+ revised down its forecast for the oil market surplus for 2022 by about 200,000 bpd to 1.1 million bpd, underscoring market tightness. At the same time a separate report showed OPEC+ in January produced 972,000 bpd less than their agreed targets.